1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of integrated circuit design and more particularly to the field of the design and fabrication of memory devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Non-volatile memory applications have gained in popularity as the technology has made smaller, reliable units available for storing mass quantities of data. Large external data storage devices gave way to specialized mass storage drives, which in turn have yielded to so-called “memory sticks” and miniature cards, all capable of storing gigabytes of data.
At these storage levels, power consumption becomes important. With literally billions of elements, power consumption for each memory storage element must be held to a very low level. The goal of absolute minimization of power usage is critical to the function and capacity of such devices.
An important technology in this field is the various forms of Resistance Random Access Memory (RRAM), described in more detail below. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/155,067, entitled “Thin Film Fuse Phase Change Ram And Manufacturing Method” and commonly owned by the assignee hereof, discusses such technology in detail and is hereby incorporated herein for all purposes.
As shown therein, an important process in the operation of memory elements incorporating such technology is heating interior element rapidly and efficiently. Various methods have been proposed to assist that process, many of which focus on preventing heat loss within the memory element.
Obtaining optimum utilization of the power consumption itself has not heretofore been a key aspect of investigation. Memory elements to date have featured conventional means for coupling electrical current to the memory element itself. The art is thus silent on making increased use of such sources for assisting in the heat production of the memory element.